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DOG approves Accumulate NS seismic SAExploration to conduct 2-D survey on acreage west of the Dalton Highway near Franklin Bluffs following drilling of Icewine well ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas has approved a land use permit authorizing SAExploration Inc. to conduct a 2-D seismic survey on state land to the west of the Dalton Highway in the lower foothills area of the North Slope. Dave Wall, managing director of 88 Energy Ltd, has confirmed to Petroleum News that Accumulate Energy Alaska Inc. has commissioned the survey. Accumulate is a wholly owned subsidiary of 88 Energy.
At the end of 2015 Accumulate completed the drilling of its Icewine no. 1 well from an existing gravel drilling pad at Franklin Bluffs. Accumulate operates state leases across a fairway of land extending east to west across the Dalton Highway at the bluffs - the location of the planned seismic survey appears to straddle those leases to the west of the highway.
An analyst report on 88 Energy published in February says that the seismic acquisition is planned for March and April at a cost of some $3 million. The seismic data should provide information for a continuing exploration program, in particular for the planning of a second Icewine well. That second well is potentially a horizontal well involving multi-stage fracking, the report says. Icewine no. 1 was a vertical well. Accumulate is interested in the potential for developing oil production from North Slope source rock intervals.
420 linear miles The division permit approval document says the survey will cover approximately 420 linear miles, using wireless recording nodes and geophones, laid by foot and from rubber tracked vehicles or snow machines. Vibrators will generate the seismic sound signals for the survey operation. Geophones would typically be located at 82.5-foot intervals along a seismic line, the document says.
The gravel pad at Franklin Bluffs will operate as a base for staging equipment and for a camp for the seismic project. Crews will mobilize to seismic sites by helicopter. Final inspection and cleanup of the operational area will take place in the summer, after demobilization.
At the time of going to press, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources had not yet opened for winter off-road travel the lower foothills tundra travel area where the seismic surveying is planned to take place. The ground temperature and snow cover in the area had yet to satisfy the required parameters for off-road travel. SAExploration says it is waiting for the off-road travel opening before starting the survey.
—A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.
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